Here is 0bama’s healthcare plan, and the core of that plan is summarized on page 5:

The [0bama-Баиден] plan provides new affordable health insurance options by:
(1) guaranteeing eligibility for all health insurance plans;
(2) creating a National Health Insurance Exchange to help Americans and businesses purchase private health insurance;
(3) providing new tax credits to families who can’t afford health insurance and to small businesses with a new Small Business Health Tax Credit;
(4) requiring all large employers to contribute towards health coverage for
their employees or towards the cost of the public plan;
(5) requiring all children have health care coverage;
(5) expanding eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs; and
(6) allowing flexibility for state health reform plans.

(Yes, there really are two (5)’s in the plan.)

The first two points of the 0bama-Баиден plan are the most important to understand.

(1) GUARANTEED ELIGIBILITY. [0bama and Баиден] will require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans, regardless of their health status or history, can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.

(2) NEW AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HEALTH INSURANCE OPTIONS. The [0bama-Баиден] plan will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals purchase new affordable health care options if they are uninsured or want new health insurance. Through the Exchange, any American will have the opportunity to enroll in the new public plan or an approved private plan, and income-based sliding scale tax credits will be AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE COVERAGE OPTIONS FOR ALL provided for people and families who need it. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status. The Exchange will require that all the plans offered are at least as generous as the new public plan and meet the same standards for quality and efficiency. Insurers would be required to justify an above-average premium increase to the Exchange. The Exchange would evaluate plans and make the differences among the plans, including cost of services, transparent.

One point bears repeating: “Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status.”

So why buy insurance at all? Just cruise along until you contract cancer, then go buy insurance. The insurance companies will not be allowed to deny coverage for your cancer, and they will not be allowed to charge you more. Insurance companies would either increase premiums to cover the costs, or they will go out of business. If they choose to raise premiums, they will drive more people to take the “don’t buy insurance until you need it” route. This will escalate until no-one buys insurance until they need it, and there will be no more insurance companies.

When there are no other insurers, the feral government will be the “single payer.”

Comments

Nice, a substantive critique of Obama’s plan! Now we can discuss these details, but can we at least agree that it’s not a proposal for “socialized medicine”

It’s worth pointing out that McCain’s plan also has a clause about setting up a special program to make sure that the “uninsurable” can get coverage. Now I’m guessing that there would be some safeguard against that kind of adverse selection built into both plans.

well, it wouldn’t discriminate based on pre-existing conditions in the beginning, anyway. That is, everyone will be able to sign up at the point in time when the plan “opens for business.” After that, I imagine there will be an annual “open enrollment” period like they do with medicare and the blues. So say you want to be covered under the plan, you have to sign up in January. If you don’t, either you’ll have to wait until next January, or pay some sort of late enrollment penalty, or get a different plan. That can help control adverse selection (for instance, it would make it more difficult to just “wait until you get cancer”)

Assuming that it’s going to cause all private insurance to collapse rather than employing some mechanism to control for that problem is a little alarmist, don’t you think? Especially since most of the insurance under “the plan” would still be provided through private insurers that offer plans meeting the gov’s criteria (similar to medicare part d)

well, that’s true. the website only has an overview of the plan. I’m trying to fill the gaps by looking at what other public-private style insurance plans have done; you’re filling them with hyperbole and paranoia.

Easy enrollment. All Exchange health insurance plans will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.

(Page 6, in describing item (2) of the Plan.)

One cannot have “an annual ‘open enrollment’ period” a la puffalump AND “ready access to coverage” a la 0bama-Баиден.

Written by Stay Puft Marshmallow Man about 8 years ago.

well, if you want to parse phrases, let’s see:

“All Exchange health insurance plans will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage”

this says two things:

1. enrollment will be simple
2. access to coverage will be provided.

These aren’t one and the same. A plan would be difficult to enroll in AND provide ready access to coverage (once you are enrolled) or it could be easy to enroll in but not provide ready access to coverage(kind of like the $5000 deductible HSA plans that McCain’s plan will encourage)

But the fact is that neither of these plans are set in stone, so picking them apart like this can only accomplish so much. If you’re set on convincing yourself that Obama’s REALLY out to destroy private insurance, that’s fine. But that idea isn’t rooted in any reasonable reading of his health proposal, nor is it rooted common sense. That’s all I’m saying…

Indeed. I have always wondered something: when congresscritters are running for President, they have grandiose plans for fixing everything down to your kitchen sink, so, being congresscritters, why haven’t they already submitted the legislation?

Hell, it’s been four years now, and I’m STILL waiting to see Kerry’s plan to get us out of Iraq.

Written by Stay Puft Marshmallow Man about 8 years ago.

word. the funniest thing about these plans is that they’re both proposing pretty radical overhauls of the health system. whoever wins, it will be interesting to see what actually happens…

Written by Linda Grant about 4 years ago.

I am a widow 63 and have no ins. where can i go and what can i do

Written by Amanda about 4 years ago.

So is this supposed to take away medicaid or what? I have been on medicaid for years, along with my husband and our two children.